Category: 2017

                                        Monday, 
Ex-Defense Chief's Wife Warned Over `False Denunciation'
 . Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Ruzanna Khachatrian, the wife of former Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanian.
The Armenian Defense Ministry issued a stern warning to the wife of
former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian on Monday after she seemingly
accused his successor, Vigen Sargsian, of evading compulsory military
service.
In a weekend Facebook post, Ruzanna Khachatrian attacked an unnamed
"high-ranking official" who has spoken out against draft evasion of
late. Khachatrian said she has known him for 25 years and remembers
"how he was evading military service and how the military police were
hunting for him" in 1999. The official, she said, was "saved from
punishment" by his girlfriend who worked as an advisor to a "senior
military official" at the time.
"And now he, shaking his finger from various podiums as a great
`philosopher,' a great `teacher,' is trying to give mentoring advice
and admonitions to the younger generations," wrote Khachatrian.
The opposition Yelk alliance was quick to seize upon the extraordinary
attack, suggesting that it was directed at Defense Minister Sargsian,
who replaced Ohanian one year ago.
Sargsian repeatedly stressed the need to close legal loopholes to
draft evasion during last week's parliament debates on a government
bill that will mostly abolish draft deferments enjoyed by male
students of Armenian universities. Yelk's parliamentary faction voted
against the bill, saying that the authorities must first ensure that
senior government officials and their relatives are no longer able to
wriggle out of the two-year service.
One of Yelk's leaders, Nikol Pashinian, demanded on Monday that the
Sargsian give "very clear explanations" about why he was not drafted
when he turned 18.
Armenia - Defense Minister VIgen Sargsian speaks during parliamentary
hearings on military draft in Yerevan, 11Oct2017.
According to the 42-year-old minister's official biography, he studied
at a state college in Russia from 1992-1996 and served in the Armenian
armed forces as an officer after graduating from the U.S. Fletcher
School of Diplomacy in 2000. From 2000 through 2003 Sargsian was an
assistant to then Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
The Defense Ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, also reacted to
Khachatrian's claims. In that regard, he pointed to articles of
Armenia's civil and criminal codes dealing with "defamation,"
"insults" and "false denunciation." Hovannisian also insisted on his
Facebook page that Sargsian had never evaded military or been wanted
by law-enforcement authorities on corresponding charges.
Shortly after he was sacked as defense minister in October 2016,
Ohanian began publicly criticizing the Armenian government and its
track record. He ran in the April 2017 parliamentary elections as one
of the leaders of the ORO opposition alliance. ORO failed to win any
seats in the National Assembly.
Neither Ohanian nor his wife could be reached for comment on Monday.
Armenian Government Stands By 2018 Growth Forecast
 . Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Karen Karapetian and two members of his
cabinet attend a parliamentary discussion on the draft state budget
for 2018, 30Oct2017
The Armenian government stood by its projections that economic growth
in the country will accelerate to 4.5 percent next year as it
presented its 2018 budget proposal to lawmakers on Monday.
The draft state budget approved by the government in late September
calls for over 1.46 trillion drams ($3.1 billion) in total
expenditure, up by 7.6 percent from the government's 2017 spending
target. Most of the extra spending planned by the government would be
channeled into various infrastructure projects.
The spending bill calls for an even sharper rise in tax revenue that
would reduce the budget to 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetian and Finance Minister Vartan Aramian
defended this budgetary strategy as they addressed several standing
committees of the Armenian parliament. Karapetian insisted that it
will "lay the groundwork" for an average economic growth rate of 5
percent "in the future."
"We must seek 5 percent growth, not 3 percent growth, because several
analyses show that 3 percent growth would not allow us to consistently
address our economic problems," Aramian said for his part. He said the
government still expects the Armenian economy to expand by 4.5 percent
in 2018, up from 4.3 percent projected for this year.
In its latest World Economic Outlook released earlier this month, the
International Monetary Fund forecast more modest growth rates for
Armenia: 3.5 percent in 2017 and 2.9 percent in 2018. The IMF
anticipated slower growth in the country earlier this year.
The draft budget was criticized by opposition lawmakers representing
the Yelk alliance and businessman Gagik Tsarukian's bloc. They said
that it will not ease hardship in the country because the government
is not planning to raise public sector salaries and pensions next
year.
"The people are sick and tired of your numbers," said Gevorg Petrosian
of the Tsarukian Bloc.
"We are confident that we are keeping the country on the right track,"
countered Aramian. He said that boosting capital spending is a more
efficient way of speeding up growth than raising salaries and
pensions.
"Without capital spending it's not possible to expect development,"
agreed Aghvan Vartanian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
President Serzh Sarkisian's junior coalition partner.
Police End Hostage Situation At Armenian Kindergarten
 . Anush Muradian
Armenia - Police cars are seen outside a kindergarten in Armavir where
a man held a child hostage, 30Oct2017.
Police in Armenia used force on Monday to neutralize a man who burst
into a kindergarten and took one of its children hostage.
The hostage, a 3-year-old boy, was freed after a five-hour standoff
between the man armed with a knife and police officers that surrounded
the kindergarten in Armavir, a town 40 kilometers west of Yerevan.
A spokesman for the Armenian police, Ashot Aharonian, said the
officers freed the child before using "special means" against the
hostage taker. The operation was personally led by General Hunan
Poghosian, the deputy chief of the national police service.
An RFE/RL correspondent standing near the kindergarten building heard
what sounded like gunshots shortly before Aharonian's announcement.
The police said later in the day that the attacker then tried to "harm
himself" and was taken to a local hospital as a result. The hospital
director, Sargis Khachatrian, told reporters afterwards that he
stabbed himself in the chest and is now undergoing surgery. He
confirmed that the child was not hurt by the "middle-aged" man.
Also hospitalized was a woman described by Khachatrian as the
hostage-taker's former wife. He said she suffered stab wounds to her
neck, chest and hands and will have to be transferred to a hospital in
Yerevan.
In a late-night statement, Armenia's Investigative Committee said the
man, who was still not identified, took the hostage to demand an
urgent meeting with his ex-wife working in the Armavir
kindergarten. The law-enforcement agency gave no other detail.
Press Review
(Saturday, October 28)
"Aravot" is disappointed with the parliamentary debate on a
controversial government proposal to essentially abolish military
draft deferments that have long been enjoyed by male students of
state-run universities in Armenia. In an editorial, the paper says
that opposition lawmakers were wrong to put the emphasis on alleged
draft evasion among the authors of the government bill, other
government officials and individuals connected to them. It is also
supportive of the measure sought by the government.
"We need educated and competent officers more than ever before,"
"Aravot" goes on. "Young people need not worry. Those of them who have
something to give in science or any other sphere will definitely get
to do that. The army will not hinder them."
"Haykakan Zhamanak" reports that Russia has lifted its ban on imports
of Turkish tomatoes which was imposed following the November 2015
shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish
border. The paper says that Armenian tomato farmers have failed to
really take advantage of the ban because they still pay much more for
Russian gas, used for heating their greenhouse, than their Russian
competitors do.
Vadim Yevseyev, a Russian political analyst, tells "168 Zham" that he
is skeptical about the upcoming fresh negotiations between Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Elmar Mammadyarov. "The political situation in Baku and Yerevan does
not allow one to predict serious, substantive negotiations on the
Karabakh issue," he says. "The leaderships of both counties are
preparing for political changes, which will preclude discussion of
serious scenarios regarding a Karabakh settlement."
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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